Feeling Like An Outsider?

Do not fear, nor be afraid;
Have I not told you from that time, and declared it?
You are My witnesses.
Is there a God besides Me?
Indeed there is no other Rock;
I know not one.' ”  Isaiah 44:8

Do you feel like an outsider at the wedding? Is your clothing just feeling a bit off from the rest of the party, and you sense that the master is about to have you tossed outside the house? Okay, no more beating around that proverbial bush: do you feel like God is far away right now? There may be a reason rooted in sin, or you may simply need to banish that feeling with gems from the word of God such as this one for today. 

This verse is a bit longer, but sometimes we need a longer time in the Word when those feelings of abandonment, distance, or just not-rightness creep up on us, and the guilt and shame of the enemy's darts burns in a little longer and deeper than it should. Back to the Word and to prayer with God are called for to banish that fear of God's rejection that the Adversary throws at us. The Lord promised never to leave us or forsake us, and that word 'never' from the Lord is too big for our puny feelings of displacement from the Lord's love. Trust in the Lord's perfect love, especially when you or I feel that we are not quite in it on any given day. 

Amen. God's love is the way for me! 

Bucky

In The Blind Period

“A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.  John 14:19

Born after the time when the disciples did see Jesus again after He had gone for those brief three days, we live in the blind period when we cannot see our Lord with our human eyes. But there is the seeing of our Lord in His word, in prayer, in His Creation, and in the love of those who believe in Him. All of this comes by faith through the Spirit our Lord has given us. We see the work of our Lord Jesus in the changed lives of those who repent and believe in the One who lives. And we must seize upon that promise our Lord gave to us here in this verse today: "Because I live, you will live also." As we live now along with many who do not believe in Him, this promise must speak to another life, a different life that only He can give since it depends upon His life that came after the time when He could not be seen. Ready to leave this life behind yet? 

The promise of a new life in Christ the Lord!

Bucky

The Sequence of Salvation

Can you direct the sequence of the seasons
or guide the Bear with her cubs across the heavens? Job 38:32

The Man came to the end of his life and decided to save himself. He marshalled his might, surrounded himself with his strengths, itemized the increase of his intellect, and wagered his wellness with his wealth. God came down and asked him just the first question in our verse for today. Can you, O Man, direct the sequence of the seasons? 

The attempt to save oneself by the presenting to God of a record of a mortal life has about as much chance of salvation as does one of us proposing that 2022 should start with winter, to get it over with, go into fall because that season is fun, then hold spring starting in June, and finally have summer to end the year because it makes travelling for Christmas so much easier. We understand the bit about ordering the seasons, but then turn right around and go back to work on that resume we will present to the Lord by way of gaining eternal life by our deeds. 

In John 3:16, that great verse we like to memorize and quote, God loves, God gives, and we have one chance to gain eternal life from the Lord's gift: believe in His Son. Believe? That's it? The Man says. Couldn't we try to organize those seasons? Man goes back to struggling with the sequence of salvation. It is still simple: God loved, God gave, believe and live. 

For God so loved even you and me,

Bucky

The Forest of Trees of Life

In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.  Revelation 22:2

"That tree must be really big," I said in my younger days as I considered a tree that grew on both sides of a river in the middle of a street. Some decades later, a minister of the Lord explained that the Greek word was used for tree or forest interchangeably; and we can read that further into the verse as each tree of the Tree of Life yields its fruit every month. So we might read that on either side of the river was the forest of Trees of Life. In other words, there will be plenty for all of us as even the leaves are there for the healing of nations. In the heavenly city is also this calendar, as the trees of the forest will yield fruit every month. Fruit for enjoyment, leaves for healing, and a calendar to celebrate the passing months, surely it is a forest of wonders for us in the wonderful city! 

Let us meet there one day for a celebration of our Lord Jesus! 

Bucky

Clinging By Faith

Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ”  John 20:17

Confession first: I still do not understand that first part of what Jesus said to Mary Magdalene. If Jesus simply wanted Mary to run and deliver His message, then the bit about His coming ascension would seem out of place. Was it His state of undress? Because those grave clothes were still in the tomb as Peter and John had seen. Was our risen Lord, like, naked as the ol' jaybird? No, that cannot be either, because Mary would by no means have mistaken a nude fellow for a gardener. One, even in our libertine age, would not expect first century gardeners to have worked in the buff. Would Mary perhaps have received an unexpected ride up to Heaven as she clung to Jesus? That does not seem likely either as she would have to maintain that grip for about forty days as Jesus appeared to persons and groups around the area. Was Mary somehow too dirty or unclean to be clinging to the risen Lord? That also seems unlikely as the doubting Thomas, besides gaining a label, was invited to thrust his hand into our Lord's side and stop doubting. Did Jesus travel from place to place before His ascension through a means by which Mary in her fallen state might have suffered harm? Sorry, still seems unlikely as Mary could hardly be safer than traveling with her Lord Jesus no matter what method He used. Perhaps the time had come for all who believe in Jesus to cling to Him by faith, and as this was the one brief time that a person could reach out and physically cling to our Lord, He had to stop that sort of thing until His glorious return. Interesting, but there still seems to be a question mark floating around my head. 

Until that time when He returns with the answer, the just shall live by faith, and we hope our Lord will kindly allow us to cling to Him by faith too! 

Bucky

By My Spirit

So he answered and said to me:

“This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel:
‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’
Says the LORD of hosts.   Zechariah 4:6

In this age we want to see the Lord come in power and might, but then we have this promise to Zerubbabel by way of Zechariah. The two names might gain our attention if nothing else will. Power and might are easy for us to see, and the Lord's power and might are of course overwhelming even to the unbeliever. The Spirit of the Lord is of course the Lord Himself, and would seem at first to be just what we want to see. However, the Lord Jesus gave to us His Spirit, and the power and might at work is often in small, inside the heart ways we do not see so easily. It would be easy for us to look at the protests in the cities and lament that no one has changed. But is that true? Has not the Spirit of the Lord Jesus worked in you and in me to effect a great change though we may not see it over the span of years? Are we each the same person He saved by faith back in the day? As for me, I can say that no, I am not the same and the growth continues each day with Him. 

We cannot deny the work of the Spirit in our brothers and sisters in Christ, but we also cannot deny that others are fleeing further away from our Lord God. The sword of the Lord's Spirit is also dividing us, sheep from goat, as the end comes closer each day. 

Have a day of peace in Christ our Lord!

Bucky

Hope Lives In Christ!

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:5

Having been here before, I know that the question has been answered: of course you have been disappointed by someone and so have I. Paul gives to us a bit of the good news when he begins this verse with the assurance that hope does not disappoint. From that we can do a little detective work and work our way back through this assurance. Who gave to the disciples His Holy Spirit? Jesus did in John 20:22:

And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

Passed on to all who believe at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit pours out in your heart and mine the love of God. This is the reason Paul gives to us that hope, our hope in Christ, does not disappoint. Now, if we go back in Romans 5, and read the first four verses we see such hope in our Lord Jesus. And for this time in which we live, we also see tribulation. As long as we live here on this Earth and in our time, we will endure tribulations and glory in them. It is a strange attitude to our worldly senses to revel in the hope of Jesus that does not disappoint, and at the same time glory in the tribulations that make life so darn difficult! 

Great is the love of our Lord God!

Bucky 

Worthy Of The Saints

I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you; for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also.  Romans 16:1-2

Paul calls upon the church in Rome to receive sister Phoebe in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints. So what is this manner the saints of the Lord are to be ready to receive one another? We know the answer though we do not always do it. Start with the love Jesus commanded us to have toward each other. Then do not judge the one received on the basis of sex, appearance, wealth, age, how useful he or she might be to you or the church, or anything other quality or characteristic we might think up to deny the saint our best reception. Any other quality? Yes indeed, imagine for a moment how one of those superstar famous folks might be treated coming into your church or group against how the stranger a little rough in appearance might be at first received. A manner worthy of the saints is one of those things which we must learn, and thus it is not going to be easy. Any church or group will find it much easier to circle the wagons and look with suspicion upon the stranger. Which is probably why brother Paul thought to send a letter of commendation for Phoebe including a bit of her saintly resume to the new place in Rome.

The Lord's blessings to you on this coolish morning!

Bucky

So Weak We Need Him

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Reading a passage of scripture that points out the need to always be ready for when the Lord comes, I fell asleep in front of my open Bible. There it is, the story of God's believing children. We want to be ready, in the saddle, with our boots on, when the Lord comes, but we are so weak we need Him just to stay awake for a bit. Kind of reminds one of the time a few disciples could not stay awake while our Lord prayed. Weakness, we have multi-ton bales of the stuff to offer up to our Lord. Maybe that is the one qualification we all have together to be chosen as the Lord's own flock, an abounding weakness that overthrows all of our efforts on our behalf. Whether avoiding sin, doing good works, or just loving one another, we have this great weakness to show our Lord. The perfection of the Lord's strength must be a thing of wonder and beauty by now, for we have done our part each day. 

Great is the name of our Lord this day!

Bucky

An Admission?

His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him. John 12:16

Have you ever felt a little ignorant or stupid when studying God's word? Me too. Here in our scripture for the day we have John admitting that the disciples also did not understand at first. This is giving the group a break for we know from our studies that they were told not once, but at least three times what was going to happen to Jesus in Jerusalem that final week. Peter took the Lord to task and told Him that could not be allowed to happen. Praise God that our Lord Jesus went ahead anyway. We recall Jesus walking toward them across the Sea of Galilee when some genius shouted out something about ghosts. Jesus comforted the disciples and calmed the storm. If our Lord's ministry were a college degree program, His disciples would have been retaking a few courses. 

Our Lord Jesus says and does things that are hard for us to understand and believe, but we do believe for the promise of eternal life in Christ. Praise God for the wonder of learning through His word and His Spirit! 

Bucky

Waiting For The Boiling

As fire burns brushwood,
As fire causes water to boil—
To make Your name known to Your adversaries,
That the nations may tremble at Your presence!  Isaiah 64:2

Faith is our method in the time of waiting, but how we long to show to the world His name and His presence! The simile here is the pot on the range with flame applied, but the waiting for the full rolling boil seems interminable. Our verse for today is part of a prayer for the coming of the Lord. Already faith and waiting had come to Israel, and the prophet longed for the presence of the Lord his God. We are in much the same state, including the last bit where he confesses the sin of his nation and states, "In these ways we continue; and we need to be saved." Yes, the prophet has our condition quite well. Let us confess our sin and wait on our Savior. His return is soon! 

Look up, for your redemption draweth nigh!

Bucky

Simply An Accident

But if it was simply an accident permitted by God, I will appoint a place of refuge where the slayer can run for safety.  Exodus 21:13 NLT

We know the story and how in order to attack the righteous Job the enemy had to first be permitted by God to do the dirty work he intended to bring down the man. How often have we thought that accidents too are permitted or not by God? Here in the word for today, we see that Moses tells the people and us that accidents are indeed not a surprise to God, as they are to us, and that permission from our Lord is what allows these to happen. The news of the day will tell you why this subject has come up today. 

You can see it coming a mile away, as can many in places where they might do something about it if they just knew the time and place of the incident coming like a freight train too close to the crossing to be stopped before striking that car unwisely going around the lowered crossing guard. A city where the heat is already turned up on emotions because of a prior incident, protesters and others walking the streets, police trying to maintain order, and hundreds of interactions between those carrying guns as part of their lawful equipment and those who might be carrying guns as part of their criminal lifestyle. It is like the thing is scripted in an office in a dark cave where warfare in the streets of a city is the desired outcome. Scripted and performed again, and again, and again...

A place of refuge to run for safety. Seems like we all need that place of refuge from the enemy these days. Let us pray that Jesus will be kind enough to lead us there to Himself, one and all!

Bucky

He Who Is Without Sin

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”  John 8:7

This remains one of those stories in the Bible that reads the reader well. How do you see yourself in this story? As He Who Is Without Sin? Probably not. We have all likely played the part of the scribes and Pharisees, slinking away one by one as our sin is written down in the dirt. (This is one guess among scholars as to what Christ wrote on the ground.) Each of us at some point must see ourselves as the one caught in the very act and standing surrounded by our accusers, facing the Judge.

Our first thought might be that it isn't fair. Where is the partner in crime? It is like Eve being judged without Adam. Bathsheba charged before the court and with David nowhere to be seen. The stories in the Bible do not go that way. Adam and Eve received their sentences together as they had sinned together. David was the one confronted by Nathan the prophet as he was the one admitting no sin in the so-called Uriah Affair of murder and adultery. (Yeah, so called by me.) Jesus does not address the absent partner though, how fair is that? He addresses the accusers first, and after each of them turns away without throwing a stone, he turns to you, the one caught in sin. Jesus our Lord and Judge offers no condemnation, only mercy. "Go, and sin no more," He says. 

Do we suppose that the woman after her brush with a painful death managed to sin no more? What matters is whether we made it to the end without sinning after that first charge and the mercy that followed. Like the woman caught in adultery, probably not. Praise God that His mercies are new each morning, and that His Son's death on the cross covered all sin. 

Rejoice this day in the knowledge of Jesus the Christ!

Bucky

Two Blind Guys From Jericho

 And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”  Matthew 20:30

Buddies in their condition, how long did these two men sit out by the road making their meager living by begging? Did they protect each other from the fantasies of a prophet stopping by to restore their sight? There had been no prophets like the great ones of old in Israel for centuries. But there were those stories of miracles, the history of Israel was thick with tales of great deeds done by the Lord for Israel. So why not take a few breaks from today in the world of fantasy? Today would of course be the problem for all of their weaknesses, the obvious one and those not seen (pun made!) so easily. Today is where we live with our weaknesses. A fantasy may be diverting for a time, but can also bring risk of wishful thinking. Better to be anchored in the present with a solid foundation under our feet, one may have said to the other. And then He came...

A wish or a fantasy may not be good for us to live in constantly, but it does remind us of the One not limited by the conditions we live in each day. Miracles flowed out from Jesus day by day as He had compassion upon those He saw suffering. We do not need to stomp on the wishes and fantasies when we can use them to look to the Lord in prayer. However, there were likely a great many days when the two blind guys from Jericho sat out by the road and Jesus did not stop by. They had to get on with life as it was offered to them each day, and cling by faith to the promise of the Lord's work we know as miracles. It is that strange dichotomy we live in too during this age. Miracles are out there; the Lord may bless us with one this day, or it might be some years down the road. 

Remain faithful to the promise of Jesus!

Bucky

Daily Cleansing Time Problems?

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  John 15:3-4

Are you spending much time each day getting yourself all cleaned up for the Lord? Jesus has a few words about the effort you are spending in this activity. It seems that His word is all we need to be clean, and abiding in Him is what our Lord desires of us. Sigh, me too. If I have not spent several hours in self-improvement each day seeking to deliver a perfect specimen to the Lord on the judgment day, then I feel the day has been wasted. And each day aging alone serves to deconstruct my efforts faster than I can even think of making them. I might as well just give up now. Which is the usual leap over the top of many other possible responses to our Lord's goodness. So, if you and I are already clean by the Lord's word and giving up is the answer at the extreme wrong end, what is it we are to do? Not a problem! God has kindly provided us with a whole library of instructions for living each and every day. It will not surprise one of us to learn that this is also His word, known to us as the Bible. You have heard many a minister of the Lord tell you to start each day in Bible study, and I'm no different. 

Great is the word of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Bucky

Reward And Refuge

The LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.  Ruth 2:12

This blessing was one given by Boaz to Ruth, but it reminds me of how our Lord Jesus longed to gather Jerusalem under His wings of refuge on that day when He rode into the city on a donkey's colt. It also reminds me of how our Lord comes at the end and brings His reward with Him. And there was that time our Lord spoke of how our work would be rewarded. And I would not be far from the great psalmist's thoughts after God's own heart when I saw that the Lord is our refuge and our reward! 

Have a blessed day in the Lord Jesus Christ!

Bucky

He Is Risen!

But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.  Mark 16:6

It is the Monday after Resurrection Day, and it does not lend itself to writing about anything but Jesus risen from the grave. We celebrated the risen Lord yesterday, but the celebration has only just begun! 

Three days after the body of our Lord was laid in the tomb, and the disciples and all others following Jesus expected no more than a dead body laid in a tomb. Yet, Jesus had told them three times and more that He would not stay put as most bodies do after death. A young man robed in white told Mary Magdalene that they were looking in the wrong place for Jesus. That place we look for Jesus to this day. No, no, we claim to not be doing that. How can you say such a thing? And yet, we search the graveyard of our past sins, opening up the mausoleums of forgiven iniquities and examining the contents at length. "Oh, I wish I hadn't done that!" we say in the pain of regret over a sin from way back when. As the angel said, look among the living for our Lord Jesus, for as we like to say to one another, "He is Risen!" Let us believe it, dear Lord Jesus, and may we stop rooting among the dead sins of our respective past. 

Love and joy in our Risen Lord Jesus to you! 

Bucky

Whether To Sleep Or To Pray

Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him.  When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”  (Luke 22: 39-40)

The trip to Calvary began years before with a woman and a man entering into temptation. Jesus gave to His disciples at Gethsemane what seemed a simple, yet profound instruction that went back to that other garden and our ultimate ancestors. While our Lord withdrew a bit to pray for us and Himself, the disciples of our Lord, those eleven strong champions of our redemption, proved our ability to save ourselves from temptation by prayer. 

When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”  (vv. 45, 46)

Our Lord Jesus gave to them another chance to save themselves from temptation. If they could not pray sitting or laying down, He would have them to pray standing up. Or, perhaps they could stand with Him in the trials to come as they had sworn to do a few days before? We know from the stories of our Lord's death that they had no more ability to save themselves in that way than by simply staying awake in prayer in a quiet garden. Even in the simplest of things we need our Lord as Savior. Whether to pray or to sleep, to flee temptation or to enter in, we need the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and as risen Lord.

Rejoice in His atoning sacrifice this Good Friday! 

Bucky

Let's Join The Fight!

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”  John 18:36

Whoops, too late for this fight. Our Lord was delivered to the Jews and from them to the Romans, and then Pilate tried to give Him back to the Jews, and... all of this took place long before you were born. However, according to our Lord Jesus, none of you would have fought for Him at that time. Peter was there but would not even admit to knowing the Lord. John was there but wasn't asked if he knew the Lord, and didn't speak up for Him either. I'll admit that I'm as afraid of little servant girls as any fisherman from Galilee. So, if none of us would have fought right then for our Lord Jesus, how could any of you? 

Ha, ha, April Fools! I wasn't alive at that time either. There, now you have my weak little joke for today. 

However, it was not so much whether we were there or not at that time, but that the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ had not yet come. The time of that coming is mentioned in the Revelation, the revelation John was shown by our Lord Jesus a few decades down the road of time from this moment of scripture. In that great moment to come, at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the kingdoms of this world will see a takeover as the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.

Hallelujah! Amen!

Bucky